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Certainly society's puritanical nature has something to do with it, but I don't think its as prominent as people think.
So often it seems like an obligatory thing, like somehow a romance or purely sexual subplot needs to develop in order for intrigue to occur in the story. You can't just throw two people in a bag and hope they eventually tussle. In the same sense, having two attractive people alone in a variety of tense or dangerous situations at a pile of romantic locations doesn't necessarily mean they're going to fall in love or simply bump uglies, but it often seems to happen.
Now that doesn't mean it can't work. Seduction was mentioned; that usually has high plot and character implication. And of course, something that does actually impact the story, and isn't simply a titillation effect, that sort of defines the line between gratuitous and, erm... tuitous.
Unfortunately, the prudish nature makes even the slightly out of place sex scene more noticed. Further from that, it's harder to make a strong justification for describing the act in explicit detail. It's sort of like nudity in television and film. Camera angles (and writing) can hide all the naughty bits, and whatever implication is strong enough for the scene to function. Why, then, choose to show it?
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